GYNAEHORROR IN “THE HEAD”, BY BORA CHUNG, AND THE FEAR OF GROWING OLD AS A WOMAN

Abstract

This article analyzes the short story “The Head” by Bora Chung (2024), included in the collection Cursed Bunny. In the narrative, the protagonist’s excrement takes the form of a female head that persistently seeks to obtain a complete body—a desire ultimately fulfilled when it achieves youth at the cost of the protagonist’s aging. Based on this premise, the article investigates how the author employs female aging as a central element of horror writing within the South Korean context. First, it outlines the influences of China, Japan, and the United States on South Korean literature, highlighting how universal themes, such as women’s aging, are incorporated into this literary tradition. Next, the study examines horror through the theoretical contributions of Oscar Nestarez (2022, 2024), Julio França (2011, 2022), Claudia Cristina Ferreira, and Ana Lúcia Trevisan (2024). The analysis is grounded in Erin Jean Harrington’s (2018) concept of gynaehorror, combined with Elaine Showalter’s (1994) notion of gynocriticism, emphasizing feminist writing and the critical function of its representations. The study argues that the story fulfills the conventions of literary horror by presenting a monstrous female figure, exploring mortality as a fundamental source of fear, and depicting a form of social horror that aligns with the concept of gynaehorror. In doing so, it demonstrates how the female body—from youth to old age—is shaped by patriarchal and capitalist systems of oppression that produce fear through socially embedded norms, codes, and structures.